The second more successful hitler
by cuddles1234XD
Summary: After Skippers death something in Kowalski snaps. He takes over the world and turns every animal human  or mermaid  someone from the futer come and grabs the guys forcing them to see what the world has become. written in the POV of Skipper.
1. Chapter 1

_**This one may or may not be a long shot but what the heck. I got this idea after reading **__**Pendragon book seven: Quillan Games**_**. **_**If you have ever read the series you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't. LE GASP! You really should iz awesome. Back to the story. There are a lot of things that are very alike if not the same so I just want to disclaim the main ideas from the start. That be all. **_

_**So without further ado,**_

_**Oh and P.S. it is in the POV of Skipper, you'll find out why in the last chapter.**_

I guess I could say I never saw this coming. I mean none of this seemed possible a few months ago. A world without animals or imagination would've seemed so farfetched. Yet here I am. Truthfully I don't know if I regret anything or not.

First off, I'm supposed to be dead. And that's what caused this world to be. My death. I never thought I'd be so important to the future of the world. I always thought I was just another living creature out of tens of thousands of billions of others. One of the meaningless inhabitants of the earth. But after I died, I became so much more than that. My death caused destruction. Well it caused corruption anyway. Corruption of Kowalski. He is the new dictator by the way. And he's smart enough to hold himself there too. Oh and one more thing. He's the dictator of the world.

Yup someone finally did it. Kowalski took over the world. Scary isn't it? Well the way he's ruling is. People have compared it to the way Hitler took over Germany. And I can see why. He preached his way there. Oh so I've heard. He used everyone's hatred towards war to preach his idea of the world being ruled by one leader. One leader would mean no wars, no more devastation. Like how Hitler preached relief from the bad situation they were in. Both were bull, but people were getting tired of fighting. Sure leaders and governments didn't like the idea, but they're the power hungry parts of countries. Citizens weren't so happy about wars. But you never really hear about them. They have marches and picket lines and whatnot, but even that takes a long while to have any effects.

What Kowalski did was smart; evilly smart. Like Hitler. He preached his way into power. Once there he was able to do everything else. He made his own political party appropriately named (at the time) the 'Peace party'. He became the president of the United States. Oh yeah I forgot to tell you, he turned himself into a human. But this isn't the worst part. His party had voting rights in the State senate and Congress. His party voted out the others. No more democrats and no more republicans. Sound familiar? He knew his history, and he proved that history repeats itself. He became the second Hitler, without the killing and Arian race concepts that is. There was no concentration camps or anything like that. He was still a bad dictator. The United States of America had always been ruled by Capitalism. It promoted and fought wars over it for Christ sake. But when it finally fell to a dictator, the world seemed to freeze in shock. The wars stopped; men were pulled back to their home countries for defense. It didn't do a lick of good. Kowalski still got them.

But before he moved across the sea he finished off the Americas. In the beginning he was a great dictator. He made it seem like no one needed the two lost political parties. He continued to preach forming treaties with Canada and Mexico. He then moved on to gain treaties with all of South America. Those lasted for a year or two. Then he invaded. Canada was the first to join. Annexed to the United States. After Mexico fell the entire continent was the United States. After he ruled the continent he reinforced the military draft. If you got the paper you joined up or died. He attacked Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela, Chile, and Bolivia. After that all it took was occupation for the countries to fall. North and South America's were then the United States. From there he moved to Europe. He promised to spare Britain and France if they helped. So they helped him take over Europe and Asia. First to neutralize threats, he came up with this indestructible plastic and had it mass produced into gigantic domes. He used twelve military helicopters to place them over nuclear plants and missiles. Then he blew them up. No evacuation or warnings. Every nuclear weapon and plant was destroyed. The domes were pushed into the ground and are actually still there.

Then he took over Africa. With all the power and military force he had it wasn't very hard.

And then he took over France and Britain. Stabbed them in the back. It was easy because they didn't expect it. Like I've said before, a friend is just an enemy that hasn't attacked yet.

Taking over Australia and the little islands that dotted the globe were easy from that point on. Controlling his land wasn't too hard either. He created these, perfect robots who ruled over each country. He made a hundred armies worth of them. Some actually watched over each area. Others were for security and were basically the police. He called them Dados. They were big, emotionless, strong, and carried around these golden pistols that made a _**fum**_ noise when fired and hurt like hell. They were like high powered, Star Wars-like tazers. But they looked like regular pistols.

Then he got rid of animals. He used his Human serum and broadcasted it like a radio does music. He turned every animal in the world into humans. He took over Antarctica when it was still full of animals. The penguins became Eskimo's as did all the animals in the north and south poles. Animals on the equator or even close to it became dark skinned people and people far away from the equator but not at the poles- halfway in between- became white skinned. Oceanic animals became mermaids. Mermaids ruled by water proof Dados who lived in Atlantis-like cities dotted all over the bottoms of the oceans. Same went for animals of larger lakes. Animals where were in smaller lakes, ponds, or swamps became regular humans and were forced to swim to land and get used to walking around. He enforced taxes and equalized every town, city, and village on the face of the planet.

I can't really explain it straight out though. I guess I have to tell you the story for you to understand how bad things were. He took away imagination and a lot of free will, though he gave people a little bit of a choice. It was basically you do what you were told or you go to the pit or die.

All I can say is… something happened to Kowalski when I died. Something snapped. And the whole world had to pay for it.


	2. Marlene

It was the first day of summer when we were dragged into the future. He didn't tell us his name or why he was there. He just showed up in a white hover craft, threw us all into it and transported us to the future. I didn't know that when we first arrived though. I learned that later.

When we got there we were humans. Five and a half feet tall with ten fingers and toes, a face and ears; you know human. But we were in the middle of this grey, dull city. Tall buildings that were square and grey. Everyone who walked the streets wore real dull colors. There were reds and blues, purples, oranges, greens, and yellows; they just looked like they were heavily tinted by a dark grey color. The city was lifeless. There were no sirens or talking. There were murmurs and shuffles of feet but that was it. The sidewalks were packed and the roads weren't much better. We were standing in the middle of the sidewalk, yet no one paid us any mind. We weren't cursed at or pushed, people just…walked around us.

No one smiled either. The first impression I got from this city was drab, boring, and scared. It looked lifeless, but everyone seemed to be afraid of something. I could see it in their eyes. It was as if they were just trying to get home so they could run to a corner and hide. And I wasn't very far off.

I didn't say anything, surprisingly. I was going to but something caught my eye. A girl. She had a purple shirt with brown hair and brown eyes. She looked at us for half a second and scurried away. Faster than everyone else. She ran into a building across the street.

She seemed…different. I don't know what made me think that. She didn't look very scared to me. She looked more hurt to me. Can't explain why though.

I started walking towards the building she ran into but someone grabbed my arm. I looked back to see it was Kowalski. He was looking at me confused, like he expected me to say something. I didn't know what to say. We were humans in a boring, grey, lifeless city. We didn't have a whole lot to go on; not enough for me to say anything that would help any.

"What?" I asked.

"Where are we?" Kowalski asked. He seemed freaked out for lack of a better word. Then again he was good at that so I wasn't surprised. It still seemed like a stupid question.

"In a city of some sort," I said. "A dull city at that." I paused, but he didn't say anything so I went on. "Truthfully I have no idea. What I want to know is who that guy was, why we are here, and where he went." I paused again. "But I don't see any of that being answered anytime soon." I did want to know why that guy was and why he so rudely pulled us to wherever we were. I started heading towards the building that the girl had gone into. I had a strange feeling that she would be able to tell us something. It had to be the way she looked at me. No one else had even glanced our way.

"Well yeah I can see that," Kowalski said. He seemed to be calming down, which was a good thing. It didn't help any, being scared or freaked. Both weren't very helpful.

He grabbed my arm again.

"Skipper where are you going?" he demanded.

I turned around and slapped his hand away. I really didn't want to lose that girl. I probably already had but at least I knew where she could be. I still needed to find her. "Into a building. There's no use in standing out here." I looked around him. There were two big bulky men, arms drawn heading our way. They were holding golden pistols. I did not want to mess with them but I didn't want to look shocked- which was hard to do- so I turned and pulled Kowalski along, heading towards the building that the girl had run into. Private and Rico followed.

_Fum!_

I turned around to see a man in a blue shirt arc his back and fall to the ground. The big police like men (dados) picked him up and dragged him away.

"Remind me not to piss them off," I muttered. I opened the door and walked in. I didn't have the intentions of intruding but that is apparently what I did for the very next second a knife landed in a wooden frame right next to my ear. I jumped and looked further into the room. There was a small blonde woman holding two more knives. I should've knocked. I didn't because I thought that this would be a main lobby or something to that extent. The woman held a look that dared me to say something. I had a feeling that speaking wouldn't help much, but I tried anyway.

"Um, sorry to intrude," I said. Trying to be as polite as possible.

"Shut up!" the little blonde barked. She readied another one of her knives and reached her arm back to throw it.

Before she was able to throw the knife her hand was grabbed. "Come now Nini," a sweet voice said. She was so calm and controlled. She was obviously the nicer of the two. "You know that is no way to treat visitors." She stepped out from another room. She was the brown hair girl I had seen on the street. I had found who I was looking for.

"Visitors?" the blonde, Nini, huffed. "We're not aloud visitors don't you remember? After what Pa did-"

"Pa didn't do a thing!" the brown haired girl interrupted. "He didn't broadcast the law yet. Pa couldn't have known. He was being a stupid dictator like he was last week when that little boy was sent to the pit."

"Well at least the pit is better than nearo!" Nini shouted.

I had a feeling that these two didn't get along that often. They both seemed to have different views and thoughts about laws and how to follow them. Or at least with this one law. I had no idea what a pit or nearo was. By the way they were being used, I guessed that neither were good, but the pit was better than the nearo. I didn't know what law 'Pa' had broken either or why breaking it had him sent to the nearo. I didn't even know where I was! One thing was for sure, the longer I was there the more confused and curious I got.

"I don't think so," The brown haired girl said.

"Marla, listen to Nini, let's not argue about this again. We-we can agree to disagree like pa always said," Nini said. She seemed to have calmed down. She walked up behind Marla and rubbed her back. Maybe the two got along better than I though. "Where's that boy?" she asked.

"Joseph?" Marla asked. She seemed surprised at the sudden change of topic.

"No, no, no," Nini replied. "The one I almost killed."

That would be me. "Uh…Hi?" I said. I didn't know how else to say it really. I was right in front of her but didn't want to be rude. I was confused but didn't want to aggravate anyone. She was still holding the knives and I really wasn't in the mood to have knives thrown at me.

"Oh there you are," She said. "I'm sorry for the unwelcome welcome." She walked up to me, putting the knives on a table as she walked by. "Eh, who are you?" She asked.

I wasn't prepared for that. I hadn't planned for anything really. I didn't know where I was or who these people were. I didn't know why this city was so grey or what a pit or nearo was. I didn't know any of the laws. That was the worst part. Not knowing the laws was a death sentence. I didn't know what to or not to do. I had to figure this place out before I did anything else. Skipper wasn't a normal name where I came from so it probably wasn't a normal name here. I decided to change it. "Uh…Steven." I said. I wasn't sure if they would accept that. But my name was often changed to Steven, so I went with that.

Nini sized me up a few times. Then she nodded her head in approval. "Steven fits," She said.

"So where are you from?" Marla asked.

I froze. Where did I come from? I could say New York but I didn't want to give us away. I didn't know where to say I was from. It was ironic because I have been so many places I could've pick any one of a thousand locations and pull off the act that I actually lived there. "Not here," I said. I could pass myself up as anyone, but why bother?

"Well, here is like anywhere else," Marla replied.

"Marla," Nini said. She sounded a little shocked. Like Marla knew better to say something like that. "You haven't moved from this spot you wouldn't know."

"Nini, Joe has been to many places, he's told me," Marla replied matter-of-factly. "Everywhere is the same, dark, glooming, ghost of a town. No one is different. Except the resistance."

Now I was really confused. Resistance? What was that? And why was it? More questions were popping up and none were being answered. I was about to ask when a hard, loud, thundering knock came at the door. We all jumped away and backed away from the door.

"This is a security check," said a monotone, mechanic voice. "Open up or we'll break down the door."

Marla and Nini froze in fear. That wasn't good. Whoever it was they were afraid. Nini shook it off first. She signaled Marla to do something and shouted to the door. "Coming dearie just give me a minute to get to the door and I'll let you right in." She used a sweet calm voice that was very friendly.

Marla grabbed my arm and pulled me to the corner of the room. There was a chair sitting on a carpet. I didn't know what good that would do. Not until she moved the chair and lifted the blanket. Revealed was a trap door. She quickly opened it and threw us all in. she slammed it closed and I'm guessing she recovered it. A heard a thump, so she probably sat in the chair. She might've just slammed the chair onto the rug though. I really had no idea.

I couldn't see anything so I didn't move. I didn't hear anything so no one else was moving either. When the Dado came in to do the 'security check' he asked some questions but the trap door and rig muffled it so I didn't understand anything. It's not like I understood much of anything else around here. Wherever here was.

Another inference to Hitler, I do believe anyway. Nazi's searching home's for hidden Jew's. That's what it reminded me off. Now before you say anything. I didn't know much about Hitler when this was all happening. I learned of him later. The dado was probably searching for 'visitors'. In other words, the four of us were like the hiding Jew's. We were good at being quiet. We've had to do it countless times before while sneaking about.

"Why did she put us down here?" Kowalski asked. He obviously wasn't grasping anything at a quick pace. I couldn't blame him. I think it's safe to say I was the only one who at least got the gist of things.

"She's hiding us," I said. It was clear to me, by the look on Nini's face, that we were being hidden from the dado at the door. Why, I wasn't so sure of yet.

"From what?" Private asked. He was scared. His voice gave him away. Being shoved into a dark, unknown area wasn't exactly a calming event.

"From whoever was at the door," I said.

Everything went silent. The only thing to be heard was the muffled voices of the conversation above. I took the time to organize my thoughts.

We were in a continent, country, whatever, where every city, town, and or village, was full of tall, grey, lifeless buildings, and people who minded their own businesses, were afraid of something, and wore grey tinted shirts. Wherever this was, there were pits, and nearo's. Both were punishments, but the pit was the better of the two. There were these big, police who carried around golden pistols and shot at… I had no clue. And I was being hid from one of them in a dark room under a carpet and a chair and possible a brown haired, brown eyed girl named Marla. Nothing made sense to me. I still had a lot of questions and no answers and I still had the need to find out if I could get help from Marla and her friend Nini. But I had to wait until the dado left before I would get any answers.

We sat, silent, in that dark room -if it even was a room- for I'd say fifteen to twenty minutes. The Marla opened the trap door and helped me out. As I stepped back into the room another knock came at the door. I was pushed into the kitchen and the trap door was slammed shut again. Marla sat on the chair, on the rug hiding the trap door. Nini, pushed me into the corner of the kitchen and signaled me to stay. I did.

While Nini went to the door I analyzed the room. It wasn't a modern at all. There were four cabinets, each looked like they were old and falling apart. The wood was cracked and the hinges that held the door to the main structure were rusted and old. There was a stove in the corner to the left of the one I was standing in, and an oven in the corner right of the one I was standing in. They both looked over used, and in need of some serious cleaning. Next to the stove was a sink it was filled with grime but looked like it used to be white. There were counter tops that ran around the room but stopped a few feet from the door. The door was in the opposite corner that I was in. there was no door, it was just an open area of the wall. It was square so a door could've been there, but it wasn't anymore. The wallpaper was pealing and the ceiling had cracks in it. The kitchen looked run down. Used. It needed some fixing. But that wasn't at the top of my 'to do' list so I concentrated on something else. Like the monotone voice of the dado.

"Your security check was the same as last week," it said. "You were informed that you had to fix the cracks in the kitchen ceiling but they are still there." The dado was right. The cracks were still in the ceiling. But why was that important? Lots of homes had cracks in the ceiling back in New York. "Why isn't the problem fixed?"

"I thought the security check was tomorrow, I've always had a sense that kicks in a day before the checks. I was going to do it today," Marla answered calmly.

I didn't know if she meant what she said. If she didn't then she was a strong girl. To lie to one of those things was probably not an easy thing to do. I got that feeling from the way the thing talked. It wasn't human.

"You know what will happen if you don't fix the problem," The dado threatened.

"Oh, y-yeeah. I-I know. It just slipped my mind. I-I will go to the store soon as you leave," Marla stuttered. She was afraid of the thing. But even so she was keeping straight to her story.

"Make sure you do, or you will be sent to the pit." Then the door slammed.

I heard Marla take a sigh of relief. Or at least I thought it was a sigh of relief. I couldn't have been more wrong.

"What are we going to do?" Marla asked. She sounded desperate and stressed out. I was concerned for her; I just had to figure out where I was and everything else before I focused on her.

"I don't know sweetheart," Nini replied. "We'll figure something out. Let's round up our spare funds and see what we got. Take it easy ok?" She said calmly.

She was trying to calm Marla down. It seemed to have worked too. Whatever they needed to keep Marla from the pit was going to cost them more than they had planned to spend. I felt bad for them. From seeing their kitchen I wondered how they survived like this. It seemed so hard. So harsh. I didn't know that having a rundown kitchen was heaven compared to some of the other things that went on in this new world.

I stepped out into the main room. It was the first time I took in the details. The room wasn't much better than the kitchen. The chairs were older and looked like they could fall apart any day now. There was a couch, but it looked older than old. There was a coffee table in the middle of the room. It was made of wood and was probably the nicest looking thing in the room. It was polished and still looked to have a bit of life left in it. The entire house so far had looked…well it looked poor. If there was a better word I'd use it. But the walls were cracked and pealing, the furniture was old and didn't look very sturdy, and like the kitchen the room looked like it was in desperate need of some fixing up. There was a door behind the chair that was on the rug which was on the trap door. What was behind it was probably not much better than what I had seen so far.

That's when it hit me. The guys.

I looked over at Marla and Nini. They were sitting on the couch. Marla was silently crying and Nini was trying to comfort her. I was starting to think that knowing these two would have to come before learning about where I was. I do hate seeing people upset. Especially when they're having extreme troubles calming down. Marla looked like she wouldn't be calming down anytime soon. Even though I didn't know her, I felt the need to comfort her. She seemed too nice to leave in tears. Silent or not. She hid us. Saved us from whoever came to the door. She didn't even know who I was.

I walked over and sat down on the opposite side of her that Nini was. I sat as far away as I could; I didn't want to impose. "Can…can I… help with anything?" I asked as calm as I could. I hesitated because I wasn't sure if they'd welcome the offer or get extremely agitated at it. But I had to do something.

Nini looked over at me. She gave me a small smile. She knew what I was trying to do. That's what her slight smile told me anyway.

"Tell him Marla," He said. She lifted Marla's chin. "The truth."

Marla nodded. Wiping her eyes one more time she looked over at me. "I guess an introduction is in order," She said pushing away the rest of her tears. "This is my mother in-law, Mary. My husband is Joseph. My name is…is." She took a deep breath. "I'm Marlene."

I couldn't believe it. Marlene. She was human? I didn't have to think twice about it. It was Marlene. She had the same brown eyes. Nothing else really mattered. I knew Marlene inside and out and if there's one thing I always remember about her it's her eyes. I'm ashamed to say I was shocked speechless. I didn't know where I was, why I was there, what anything was or how anything worked. And then to top it all off, I found Marlene. I don't think I had ever been so confused.

"I can tell you were born in the resistance. So in that case, I'll tell you where you are and what kind of situation you've just entered." Marlene continued.

It didn't take much time to comprehend what I was told. What the most shocking part was that she was married. I would have to go more into that later. She was about to tell me everything. She was going to answer all my questions. That was something I had looked forward to.


	3. the story

Mary kept rubbing Marlene's back while Marlene explained everything. It was a very shocking story, and one that I will never forget. The house was dimly lit and gave the room an eerie feeling. Marlene talked in a very solemn voice. She sounded depressed. It didn't take me long to figure out why. I didn't tell her my real name was Skipper. I thought I'd wait until the end to confess. As it turned out it was a good thing I didn't. I didn't stop her a lot. Neither did Mary.

"I know, or knew, everyone involved in this. That's why I know everything. I guess I can start from the beginning. There was a time when animals existed on the earth. But that was before it all happened. I used to be an animal. An otter in a zoo; Central Park zoo. There were a lot of animals in the zoo but there were two species in particular that I knew very well. The lemurs and the penguins. There were three lemurs, Julian, the king, Maurice, he did everything for Julian. And Mort, he was a cutie, obsessed with Julian's feet though. They were a wacky bunch, rivals to the penguins. The penguins… what a bunch of psychotic, lunatics. That's what they were. The best friends I've ever had though. They were 'commando's' ya know. The fighting, brave, fixer upper types. They told stories about amazing feats, though no one really believed them. Including me. But they were always right about their abilities. Well almost always. They fixed a lot of problems in the zoo, caused a lot of problems too. But at the end of the day everything was how it was supposed to be. There were four of them. Rico, Private…Skipper," She paused. My name was something of importance to her. It was something bad though. I could see it in her face. Something had happened to me.

"Did you like him?" I asked calmly. I didn't want to give myself away but I wanted to know what my name meant to her.

"Yeah. He was… he was something else," She replied. "He was the leader of the group. The strongest one. Most experienced. Wiser I'd say. He did have an ego though."

She was right I did. Was never really proud of that, but couldn't help it at times.

"And he never really gave up. Sometimes he did. Someone usually made him keep going. Or something. He was stubborn. He was a good guy, don't get me wrong but… he got annoying at times," She said.

"Everyone does at some point," I replied. I wasn't defending myself. I was trying to make conversation. I felt like a therapist. She sounded like she could use one anyway.

"I guess so. Skipper was determined and always had some sort of danger lock in his head. Over examined some things. Julian did too though. Those two were always arguing. Julian always seemed to get to Skipper first. He annoyed Skipper something fierce. But anyway, Skipper was always there. He didn't understand sometimes but he still helped you get over whatever it was you were having trouble with. He could really help or just get you so mad at him you'd forget to be stressed or upset. He was one of those guys. He was one of my best friends." She paused again.

"Did… something happen to him?" I asked slowly. I was starting to fear the end of this story, but I wanted to know at the same time.

She didn't answer right away. Finally she said, "He died."

Oh. Well that explains what my name meant to her. I was dead. I didn't exist anymore. That… I can't really explain how I felt after hearing that. My stomach twisted into a thousand knots, my body went almost completely numb. I wasn't expecting to hear that. Dead was… it was dead. My life was over. But something pushed me to continue talking. "Do you miss him?"

She took a deep breath before answering. "Terribly. He was my best friend. He was… well he was… He was Skipper. You wouldn't really understand unless you knew him. He wasn't ordinary at all. He was better and worse than everyone around him. No matter where he went if you knew him he'd stick out like a sore thumb. He would've never let this happen."

"How did this happen?" I asked. Whatever this was I wanted to know how it happened. I didn't ask what 'this' was but I could tell by the way she talked about it I was supposed to know.

"Skipper died," She explained. Her voice was cracked. She sounded upset. I didn't blame her. I would be upset to if I had to explain that my best friend died.

The fact that she saw me as her best friend shocked me at first. She always seemed to like Private. But then again no one really hated Private. Private was likable, naïve, but likable. The truth seemed real clear; she missed me. Even talking about me got her upset. I started to think that maybe I should see if I could find help somewhere else. Leave her alone. But I wanted to be with her. Whatever happened here it wasn't good. And taking from how bad the house looked and how Marlene reacted when she was told to go out and buy something… she could use all the help she could get. What really surprised me though was that whatever 'this' was, my death caused it. "How did his death effect what happened?"

"I have to explain a few more things before you can understand that. First was the other three. Private was the sweetest thing I've ever met. He was such a nice guy. He was cute and he didn't know as much about danger as Skipper or the others did. He had a British accent and knew how to make you smile when you were feeling low. He was a simple problem solver. Good with the touchy feely things. The opposite of him was Rico. Rico was sweet too, though. Touchy feely things grossed him out. He was the weapons and explosions guy. It's hard to explain because I don't quite understand it myself, but his stomach was a never ending storage unit. He could store anything in it and cough it back up later when it was needed. He was wild though and if you let him he could get way out of control. Skipper usually held a grip on Rico's wild nature. Rico didn't… I want to say understand but he understood some things. He didn't really care about a lot of things. He was a good guy. I think he knew what was right most of the time. He usually followed what the others did. He had his own personality don't get me wrong he just was a loose cannon. And then there was… there was…" She stopped. "Kowalski. He was the scientist type. Always experimenting and creating things. Skipper would ask him for options during missions but only a few of them were ever really used. Ideas were usually pulled out of his options and used instead. He was very smart and caring but seemed to have a hard time not thinking. He thought everything through. His brain didn't have an off switch. That was dangerous sometimes. During some of their missions if Skipper wasn't there Kowalski's thinking would've gotten him killed. He used to be a very nice guy," she continued.

"Used to be?" I asked. That didn't sound good. What happened to him? I was about to ask but she answered it before I was able too.

"Yes used to be. He's alive… he's just not Kowalski anymore. Let me explain. Private, Rico, Kowalski and Skipper were tighter than brothers. They did a lot together and were basically brothers. They were like the four amigos. Then it happened. I learned all the details later. They were on a mission, something about a giant polar bear blowing up Antarctica. They knew the polar bear from some mission they did with the mysterious Manfredi and Johnson. They went to his lair and destroyed the main control system, in turn disarming the explosive. But the Polar bear, whose name was Professor Scruff, had an evil melt down. He sent robots after the guys to kill them. That didn't work so he attacked them himself. After a while of swinging his razor claws at them he stopped, or pretended to. The guys stopped too. They were all out of breath and tired. Kowalski wasn't paying attention anymore. He thought they had won so he relaxed. Prof. Scruff jumped at him, claws ready. Skipper being Skipper ran to Kowalski and pushed him away before he got killed. He didn't get himself out of the way in time and… and..."

"Scruff, killed Skipper instead," I finished for her. Explaining it was getting her very upset. I could see it. Learning all of this wasn't making me feel very hot myself. I was killed by a diabolical Polar Bear who wanted to destroy Antarctica. That made me feel about as high as an ant. The knots in my stomach doubled. I didn't know how to handle that. But it looked like Marlene was having a harder time than I was so I kept my uneasy feelings to myself.

"Yeah, he killed Skipper. Rico then went on a tirade and killed Scruff. They were forced to return with Skippers dead body. They buried him in the park and had a funeral and everything. Skipper wasn't normal, but he didn't deserve to die. Everyone missed him. Everyone. Even Julian missed him. Things were so different without Skipper. He kept things in order. He made sure nothing really got too out of control. Without him…the zoo almost fell apart. Kowalski never forgave himself. No amount of pleading or talking was ever able to change that. After a while I got Private and Rico to help the zoo get back in order. They did a really good job too. They said that Kowalski had gone crazy so I let them stay at my habitat at night. The zoo was never the same, but we got along ok. Rico and Private took up arguing with Julian, and I helped them solve the problems of the zoo, so everything was ok," She explained.

Hearing how my death affected people really brought home how important I was. I never saw myself as someone important. I annoyed people and angered people. Drove people up walls. I always thought that most of the animals in the zoo hated me. But now I'm not so sure. Without me the zoo came close to falling apart. Private and Rico were able to rebuild and move on. They were able to fix up what was broken. There was something nagging at me though. Something I had to ask. "Did Skipper say anything before he died?" I asked. Realizing how personal that was I added, "If… if that's not too much to ask."

"No. I don't think so. He spoke to Private before he died," She said. "First Private said 'you promised'. Skipper replied by telling Private he knew he promised but he never saw it coming. Private started to cry. Skipper made Private promise that he'd always stay who he is. That he'd always be Private. Private promised and told Skipper that he…loved him. Skipper, right before he died, told Private that he loved him too. He and Private always seemed to be closer to one another. They fit together perfectly. They completed each other. Skipper was a paranoid hard case and Private was a thoughtful fun loving guy."

That was what I had hoped. I always knew that if I died something would happen to Private. He always seemed to count on me being there all the time for as long as he lived. I didn't blame him. I was always there. He needs someone to count on. A comfort factor. He didn't like being alone, especially in the dark. I personally never thought I'd die in battle. It's silly because I've always put myself at risk. I've just always survived so death was never something I worried about. Death was never an option. Whoever went in to battle was supposed to come out when it was over. I can't imagine dying. I can't imagine how Private had to feel watching me die. It made me worry about him. "Where were Rico and Kowalski?" I asked. I wanted to know where they were. If Private was with me then where were the other two?

"Rico was killing Scruff and Kowalski was sitting where he landed in shock. When Skipper died Private was crying over him. Rico walked over after taking care Scruff and pulled Private off the ground. He hugged Private. Gave Him something real to hold onto. He didn't say anything though; I think he didn't know what to say. Private lead the way home, Rico carried Skipper, and Kowalski was last. He was traumatized I think. He blamed himself at first," Marlene explained.

She still sounded solemn and the room still gave off an eerie feeling.

"Rico was really good to Private in the weeks that followed Skippers death. Private broke down a lot and Rico was always there for him. Kowalski disappeared. He locked himself in his lab and didn't come out. He would laugh every now and then. Rico said that Kowalski sounded like a maniac. He sounded like a mad man. It got so bad that they asked to stay at my habitat at night. The laughing was giving them both nightmares. I agreed to it. Having someone there took my mind off of how everything was so different without Skipper. And it was good for them to get out of the habitat. It had too many memories in it," she continued.

"He blamed himself," I said calmly. Kowalski blamed himself. I thought that was why he hid. He blamed himself for my death. He didn't have to. It wasn't his fault, from what I heard anyway. I was killed by a polar bear, not him.

"At first he did," Marlene replied. "But everyone else forgave him. They stopped blaming him and blamed Scruff. Private did first, then Rico. After that everyone stopped blaming Kowalski. If Rico and Private didn't blame Kowalski no one else was going to. Kowalski stopped blaming himself after a while too. He blamed the world instead. He somehow thought that if the world was united by one leader there would be no wars, no good and bad. There would be no fighting and in turn no one would die before their time. He became corrupt and began to work towards a united world. He turned himself into a human; humans basically ruled the world. Once there he became the president of the United States. He was smart so he made a background for himself. He took over the way Hitler had. The world was on the brink of a world war three. No one wanted that. Most of the world was civilians and most civilians didn't want a third world war. Hitler had promised Germany a break from the hard times they faced. Something about an Arian race. Glory or something. Propaganda I think it was called. Kowalski preached about a world with no wars. A world where no one fought, where everyone was united. That's how he became the president. He made peace treaties with Canada and Mexico. Then made more peace treaties with the rest of Central and South America. People trusted him. He was charming and friendly to everyone he met. Trust. That's how he was able to gain the most control. He created his own political party and gave them power in the State Senate and Congress. His party voted out the Democrats and Republicans, and then got rid of the Supreme Court. What took America over two hundred years to create he broke down in only a year and a half. He became a dictator."

"Didn't anyone oppose him?" I asked. Let's leave my death behind for a minute. Kowalski became a human, the president of the United stated, and then a dictator? And no one tried to stop him? There is something wrong with that. I know the people of the United States aren't that stupid. Even the rest of the world. People just aren't that stupid, not all of them.

"Well yeah, but those who opposed him were so miniscule to those who supported them. Only the smartest more educated people saw similarities. What people saw as a new leader, someone who would pull the world out of wars and violence, they saw a second Hitler. A second more successful Hitler," She explained. "Even though he was a good dictator at first, people got scared. I dictator is a dictator. When The U.S. fell to dictator ship the world was sent into shock. The United States were the capitalists. They fought wars over it. The world became scared. For someone to overthrow the United States Government was impossible. Even though he didn't show any real danger at first the world was afraid of Kowalski. Europe and Asia specifically because the U.S. had the most involvement with them. They sent U.S. troops home if not voluntarily than by force. They pulled their troops back to defend their countries. It didn't matter that Kowalski wasn't a forceful dictator at first; the world knew that Dictatorships never end up well. Even the people of the U.S. became frightened."

See. Now that made sense. Everyone knew how dictators usually end up. People had to be afraid. She was right, for the U.S. to fall to a dictator was impossible. Kowalski was smart. Too smart. He took down the most powerful capitalist state in the world. He was like Hitler. But people didn't realize it until it was too late.

"After two years of treaties with the rest of the America's, Kowalski attacked. He attacked Canada and Mexico at the same time. Canada fell first, then Mexico. The rest of Central America wasn't very hard to take over. He reinforced the military draft. It was a simple law. If you got the paper you either joined up… or died," She continued.

That doesn't sound fun. "He didn't stop there did he?" I asked. I assumed he didn't. Kowalski was corrupt, like Marlene had said. He was evil, crazed. No crazed evil mind would stop there.

"No. He moved to South America and took over there. He went after the bigger countries. He attacked Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela, Chile, and Bolivia. The all he had to do was send his troops in and the country surrendered. He didn't stop there either. Before he attacked anything he made a deal with France and Britain. He promised them that he wouldn't attack them if they helped him. He wanted more troops to deal with the bigger countries in Asia and Europe. Before he attacked he took a few weeks to create this unbreakable plastic. It was stronger than bullet proof glass and could withstand the explosive powers of nuclear weapons. He had the plastic mass produced into giant domes. He took the domes and placed them over ever nuclear weapon and plant in the world. He didn't even let the workers get out. He sent one man in to blow up the nuclear weapons. A suicide mission. After the major threats were gone he went after Europe. He took over Europe without any big problems. In fact it only took him six months to take over the America's and Europe. He attacked the countries in Asia one at a time. First he went after Russia. It took him three months to take over Russia. He then took two months to defeat China and Japan. Vietnam and Korea were next. Then the rest of Asia fell quite easily. After he controlled Most of the Eurasian landmass he attacked France and Britain. France was very easy to take but Britain put up a good fight. It took Kowalski four months to take down that island. Britain was always a hard country to take down. Once he controlled the northern hemisphere he moved to take control of Africa. He took the entire continent in a month and a half. People don't think much of them, but Africans can fight. They were still no match for the forces that Kowalski controlled. It was every workable man in the northern hemisphere against all the men in Africa. It wasn't an even fight. During the fight for Africa, Kowalski had manufactured there robots. They were big, bulky, and almost indestructible. They did everything Kowalski told them to do. They also carry golden pistols that shoot high powered I want to say electricity but I really don't know. One shot will knock you out for a while though. They are called Dados. One was at the door earlier," She explained.

"That was what that thing was?" I asked. Up until that point I had thought they were just bulky police men. They looked like it, and whatever that guy had done was probably against one of the rules. I still had to find out about those.

"Yes, he was a security Dado," Marlene replied. "They come to check up on you and make sure you are doing what you are supposed to do."

"Is that what both Dados were?" I asked. I had remembered when she stuffed us into the secret room under the chair. It sounded like a dado or what a dado was supposed to sound like.

"Both?" Marlene asked confused. I don't think she understood how I knew there were two of them.

"Yeah, the one before, when you pushed us into that room under the rug under the chair?" I replied.

"Oh. Yes he was a security Dado too," She said. "But I will tell you more about why he was here in a minute."

That was good enough for me. As long as she kept explaining thing things; I was fine with the order they came in. "Okay," I said.

"Alright." She took a deep breath. "After Kowalski controlled Africa he moved on to take Australia and Antarctica. It only took him a few days to take them over. After that he sent about a hundred ships to take over all the small islands in the world. And once that was done… Kowalski ruled the world. It took him about a year and a half to take over the world, once he really got started. He sent his dados all over the world, patrolling every road of every neighborhood around the world. He had building taken down and rebuilt into huge Skyscrapers. He controlled every business and corporation in the entire world. He sent Dados under water to the depths of the sea floors to build Atlantis like cities. After everything was built…He broadcasted his human serum and turned every animal in the world into humans. Deep sea animal were turned into mermaids and Dados were sent down into the seas to round them all up and push them into the Atlantis cities. Animals that were in low lakes and ponds or swamps were turned human and forced to swim to shore. Animals of deep lakes were turned into Mermaids and had an underwater city built for them. Kowalski mass produced the dados and sent the overstock into giant storage houses, so whenever one malfunctioned or broke, he could easily replace them. That is how Kowalski came to power. From the time he turned human to the time he gained ultimate power took four and a half years," Marlene concluded.

That was a little scary for me to hear. Kowalski had gone completely mad after I died. He blamed the world and took it over. He was the first dictator who was actually successful. It was such a shocking story to hear… but it explained everything. Why everyone was dull and afraid, why ever building looked almost exactly the same. Why the girl I saw on the street, Marlene, looked different than everyone else. Kowalski was someone to be afraid of. And this was all my fault. Because I had to be the hero. Because I couldn't let Kowalski die when I could save him. That's how I have always been. I don't normally like watching people die. If I can do something I usually would. I still had knots, that joined the others, in my stomach from hearing all of it. Kowalski didn't go mad, he went insane. He had a plan and no one was going to get in his way. I think that was the moment I made up my mind. I caused this world to be and I was going to destroy it.


	4. i loved him

For all of you who think this wasn't an easy task, congratulations, you're all geniuses. It wasn't. In fact it was so far from easy it was nearly impossible. When I'm finish telling this tale you'll see why I'm saying this.

If you thought Marlene stopped there, she didn't. She told me the one fact that out of everything, had to have shocked me the most. After she told me how Kowalski had risen to power and calmed down she turned to me and with the most sincere serious voice I think I ever heard come from her lips she said, "don't freak out, but I'm three hundred and twenty years old."

The first time I heard that I didn't believe it. I thought I had fainted from the story and was now dreaming. It was the most outrageous thing I had ever heard. Three hundred and twenty years old. That's crazy. To this day it perplexes me. But of course I didn't voice any of that. That would've been rude. Very rude. And it would've sent the message that I took all of this as a joke. And that was so far from the truth. Everything she said meant so much to me. It was one more piece to the very confusing puzzle that sat in front of me. But most of all, every word she said came from her heart, and if I didn't hear it…I swear I felt it. You would've never thought someone could make her like this. Marlene said that we were all different. We stuck out like sore thumbs. Well I'll tell you she wasn't different. Marlene didn't really break. She got scared, upset, angry, confused, sure we all do. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about bravery or iron nerves. What I'm talking about is the fact that she didn't ever let anyone break her down. No one could really put her down. She was going to be herself. She was going to be Marlene and no one else. But the Marlene that sat in front of me was different. It sounded like her; it felt like her, it was Marlene. But her eyes were dimmer; her smile wasn't as bright as it used to be. Her voice, while it was hers, it wasn't as happy or lively. And it was these things, along with her explanation of course, which made me believe that she was telling the truth. That she was in fact over three hundred years old. And to tell you the truth… it made me upset. For lack of a better word, it made me sad. Because then she would have lived in this dull dark city, in the shadow of fear and utter despair, at the complete mercy of a madman, for over three hundred years. Over three hundred years. I had been there for maybe an hour, give or take, and I couldn't bear to it. It was too much. It was the saddest, most disturbing city I had ever heard of. And every city around the world was exactly identical to it. It was scary. Very unnerving.

"I know that's hard to believe," She continued. Her voice dimming down. "But it's the truth."

I didn't interrupt. I wanted to hear how it was possible for a person to live so long. More than that, I wanted to know why.

"You see Kowalski didn't want anyone to come to power other than himself. He wanted to have control of the world forever. So in order to do that he had to make something that would give him eternal life. Something that would let him live forever. Rule the world forever. So he spent twenty five years manufacturing a forever tree. He had tested so many other prototypes, but none of them worked. He was practically on his death bed when he finally came up with it. But he didn't want to test it on himself. So…he used me."

That angered me. That almost made me throw a little hissy fit. But something inside of me told me to can it. Hold myself together. So all I allowed myself to do was let out a short shocked, "what!" How could he do that? I mean I knew then that he was sick and twisted, the basic anti-Kowalski. But to use Marlene? Marlene, despite her strong willed tomboy-ish attitude, was one of the nicest girls on the planet. How could he justify that?

"What?" She countered confused.

I guess she had every right to be I barely knew her, or was supposed to barely know her. Why should I be so outraged? So I quickly came up with this legitimate excuse for the sudden outburst, "You seem like such a nice person, unfit for a test subject. I mean I get the fact that he went mad but why you?"

"Well because…you see…" she replied. Words seemed to have escaped her. It was like she was ashamed of what happened and didn't want anyone to know. Finally she sighed and explained. "While he was concocting these eternity experiments, I had tried to talk some sense into him. I told him to think. Think about what he was doing and the effects it might have. I asked him if Skipper would have wanted him to do this. Not just the experiments but destroying the strongest capitalist state in the world and taking over the planet. Becoming the mad man that Skipper had always stopped. Skipper had always stopped Kowalski from becoming a mad man. But he wasn't there anymore," She paused.

For a moment i was afraid. A fear suddenly rose within me that she blamed me for everything. She blamed me for being the hero and saving the day. That if Kowalski had died I would've stayed together. I would've kept everyone together. Stopped anyone who became a threat. And she would've been right. I did basically that when Manfredi and Johnson died. They were good men, and I carried on because that's what I believed they would've wanted. But that didn't mean that if I had gone completely insane it was to be their faults. No it would've been my own. For letting myself go insane. But that was what I was taught.

Because I was afraid I was unable to hold my tongue. "Do you blame him?"

"Who?" She replied. She didn't understand. I guess that should've been a dead giveaway that she didn't but a was scared that she did. That she blamed me and for some unknown reason if she did blame me I don't think I would've been able to live with myself. Which is ironic because I'm supposed to be dead.

"Skipper," I said.

She stared at me in complete shock, and what I believe to be, insult. As if I has uttered a giant unbelievable act of insult that I should at once be hung from the branched of a giant tree and beaten to death.

"Why would I ever think that?" She snapped. "Why would I blame him? I would never blame him. it's all that stupid bears fault. He killed him. he killed Skipper. Not me and not Kowalski. And the world had nothing to do with it. If that stupid bear was never born than none of this would've happened!"

By the time she finished she was in a hysterical outrage. By hysterical I don't me that she was running around the room with a metal bat swinging at me like I was a mass murderer. No, what I mean was that tears were rolling down her cheeks one after another, her breath a jumbled uneven mess, and her body shaking like a leaf. I was left to feel fully ashamed. It was Marlene; of course she would never blame me. I was dead. Gone, and it wasn't my fault. I was trying to save a friend, a brother. And I think she completely understood that. She did what everyone I think did and blamed the killer. They blamed Scruff the evil polar bear. The villain. I should have never been afraid. I should have never opened my mouth. But then again if I hadn't I never would've known. Because when she calmed down she said the words I thought I would never hear from her.

I feel the need to explain that Mary at this time was giving me the dirtiest look I had ever gotten. It didn't help all the shame I was feeling. Forget shock, and confusion, I was completely ashamed of myself. To this day I can still feel the shame vibrating in every bone of my body.

When Marlene calmed down she looked at me, and with her brown teary eyes she looked straight into mine and said, "Why would I blame someone I loved? Why would I do something like that?"

I don't think I will ever forget that moment. I can't even begin to explain everything that washed over me. To compare, it was like a tidal wave washing over a small town. Why? Because it intensified the shame that was running amuck through me, but at the same time, it made me feel weird. The good weird. It's hard to explain. She loved me. Marlene loved me. And I loved her. At that moment I realized that I loved her. But I was supposed to be Steven, not Skipper.

I looked down at my feet. I was depressed for a moment. Because I couldn't tell her that I loved her back. And truthfully I wasn't so sure if I really did. I had had feeling for her for a while now that I think of it. I just chose to push them away because well, she was an otter, I was a penguin. And we didn't really seem to fit together anyway. Still there was something about her that caught me. Something that never went away. But I still couldn't tell her I loved her.

I was Steven. And Steven didn't love her, Skipper did. Steven pitied her. I can't begin to tell you how much I hated that. Because I hated being pitied. And maybe it was because I realized that as Steven I pitied her, or maybe it was the shame that I was still feeling, or maybe it was both, that made me say, with a serious dejected tone, "I'm more trouble than I'm worth, I can already see that."

"You are a very confusing boy," Mary replied, "but there are plenty other that are more trouble that three of you are worth. All you need to do is control that moth of yours. It could get us all killed," She finished, sounding a lot like a stingy lawyer.

Marlene just smiled at me. "You're not at all," she said softly. She looked tired to me. She closed her eyes for a while before struggling to reopen them. He body sagged against the beaten old couch. She didn't look like she could stay awake much longer. But sleep would have to wait.

Because right as I was about to ask if they wanted to go to sleep, everything froze. And then the man who had so rudely stolen us from the Central Park Zoo stepped out of a blue vortex (though it looked more like a triangle).


End file.
